Watching the Worm

Last weekend both my kids were home and though we don't like to do it when they are visiting, we put them to work. On Sunday, we worked at covering the backyard pool. We have a big tarp that we hook up after we've done the 'winterizing' thing and, frankly, it's just too much work for two people so the kids pitched in. Now I don't know where this big fat worm came from but after we'd finished I spotted it on the patio. It was a chubby little thing. Admittedly, I was a little pooped from the hard work and a nice person would have gathered it up and deposited it in the yard. Instead, I got a little bit fascinated by the thing.

A few hours later, I went back outside and saw that he'd progressed about an inch. Pretty slow moving. I've kept up with the worms slow progress over the past few days and I'm happy to announce that he has made it pretty far by just steadily plugging along.

So now you're wondering why I'm talking about worms, aren't you? Progress on Cactus Mackey's story (the fourth of my High Plains Shifters series) is moving along at about the same pace as that poor chubby worm. For some reason, I was inspired by him this week. I thought to myself...he's going for it. No matter how long it takes, he's going for it. Slow going but moving ahead. So while he's doing it a slow inch at a time, I've been hitting the writing a page at a time. I set a basically miniscule goal but always managed to far surpass it this week.

Now, I'm seeing the light at the end of this long tunnel. Figure I'll wrap the book up over the weekend and get it off to my editor when last week, I thought it would take me much longer. I would write steadily and then realize, quite surprised, that I'd progressed farther than I thought. So yes, I guess there are lessons to be learned from that slow moving worm. Continue on, forge ahead, and EVENTUALLY you'll get there.